Confused on face proportions

[godparticle]

I'm not sure if this is the correct spot, but here goes.

I'm really confused on face proportions. Specifically, how varied they appear to be.

In the example below(I only added the red and orange lines; the rest were already in the image), am I aligning the thirds correctly? I thought there should be more above the hairline mark. Also, when people mark the center line, they always put it centered on the eye, but here it looks to be below the eye. What I would really like is a clear side shot of the bone and eye placement in the socket. Some help would be greatly appreciated.

[JeffX99]

Do you want to learn to draw or do facial reconstruction surgery? This approach has zero to do with drawing.

[godparticle]

Well, I want to be precise and figured there should be some standard of measurement. Should I should just forget that and make up my own proportions?

[JeffX99]

There is no "precise"...only general guidelines that while helpful, are not as important as just learning to observe well and translate. Drawing is about two things: creating the illusion of three dimensional form on a two dimensional surface...and your own expression. For the first you need to understand and have confidence in your materials and your ability with them as well as an understanding of fundamentals such as form/volume, light and shadow, composition, etc. If you're just starting out then portraits would be a mistake...learn drawing fundamentals first through observation of simple still lifes.

[godparticle]

I guess I'm having more problems with the first. I don't know the material(i.e., anatomy) well enough. Form and shadow are meaningless if I don't know where they're supposed to go. I'm not so much interested in doing a portrait as learning how the pieces go together. Thanks for the input, though.

[JeffX99]

Sure - but you have the cart before the horse. It's equally meaningless to know all kinds of anatomy but not understand drawing - that's what I was getting at with the surgery analogy. Drawing fundamentals come first. Form and shadow aren't "supposed" to go anywhere in particular - it is always different and always changes. Anyway, I forgot to mention you should pick up the new reprint of Loomis's "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" as a good place to start. "Successful Drawing" by Loomis is excellent as well.

[Elwell]

I'm really confused on face proportions. Specifically, how varied they appear to be.

In the example below(I only added the red and orange lines; the rest were already in the image), am I aligning the thirds correctly? I thought there should be more above the hairline mark. Also, when people mark the center line, they always put it centered on the eye, but here it looks to be below the eye. What I would really like is a clear side shot of the bone and eye placement in the socket. Some help would be greatly appreciated.

Canons of proportions are based on averages and/or ideals. It's not at all surprising that an individual won't conform to them exactly. One purpose of having those proportions in your head is that it allows you to accurately judge exactly how the individual deviates from the average.

[godparticle]

Thanks. I guess I have too much of an engineering approach haha. I've read over some of the Loomis' work before and will take a deeper look.

[Mr-Joe]

Good advice in this thread; that being said, I think jeff by saying "need to understand and have confidence in your materials and your ability with them " was not implying you need to understand anatomy, but rather the physical substance or digital make up of what you are using to express your art; a pencil, a crayon, a paintbrush with paints and various mediums.
the form and shadow would be more related to the understanding of anatomy, all considering your understanding of how light works and your eyes can percieve form from that light.